Mad Science
by UnendingEmpire
Summary: Nitori's caught something. Whether it's an animal or a disease is anybody's guess, but clearly, something isn't quite right with the kappa. Momiji must find the answer and save her friend!
1. Chapter 1

**As light and happy a writer I am, I need to write dark things sometimes to avoid hurting the characters in my light and fluffy fanfics and turning the story into something it isn't. I first noticed I should write a dark fanfic again when I had Murasa injured in the Myouren Temple fanfic, and I'm glad I stopped myself then and there, sat down, and asked myself what kind of dark fanfic I could write. Mahou Shoujo Sayaka Magica wouldn't do because that's not really a dark fanfic yet (getting there, though) so a new fanfic it had to be, and I really haven't paid enough attention to Nitori as a character.**

**Scientists are excellent fodder to let me get away with almost anything, and I intend to have quite a bit of fun with her here as the title may imply.**

* * *

A wonderful summer night in Gensokyo. It was starlit nights like these that made having a tengu friend great and beneficial; Nitori was easily able to enter the tengu city as long as she had Momiji with her, and that meant the best place for looking at the stars. No research, no experimentation, and no scientific thought at all; if Nitori wanted to research the stars, she could have easily done that with a telescope at her house. No, tonight was a night for kicking back and looking at the countless lights that dotted the night sky like so many fireworks. "It's really quite the sight, Momiji," Nitori said contently. "But at the same time, it's kind of a shame."

"How are the stars a shame," Momiji asked curiously. Nitori listened when Momiji talked about the daily and boring life of being a tengu patrol, so it was only fair that Momiji listen when Nitori had something scientific to say. Besides, even if she didn't understand what Nitori said as a whole most of the time, it was relaxing to just listen to her go on. The kappa laying back next to her could go on for hours at a time about science; she'd actually gone from dawn till dusk nonstop one time last year. "No aliens up there for your telescope to find or something?"

"Well, there's that. But the real disappointment is that stars would make such a powerful energy source, but they're so far away." Pointing to a particularly large-looking star, Nitori said "Even if we moved at the speed of light, it would take us at least a year to reach that one star. They're way too far to be power sources; most of the power would be used up in getting and collecting the energy in a star, so it's impractical, and therefore I can't accept it as a scientist."

"Then why not accept it as a dreamer?"

"Hm?"

Pointing to a large number of stars near each other, Momiji said "You're a scientist without question, that much is for sure. But if you want to try it bad enough; if you really want to see if the stars are practical as a power source of not, then the only thing stopping you is yourself, Nitori. You've gotta remember your dream, and yours is to use stars as a power source. So what if the other kappa think you're crazy to say it would work? Everybody in this city, hell, the whole mountain thinks Aya's nuts because she's so enthusiastic about her newspaper. But she doesn't care, and she just keeps on publishing it."

"…"

"When Aya comes around with the newest Bunbunmaru, does she ever look upset or regretful in the least? No. Because publishing that newspaper is her dream. Yours is to use stars as a power source, and with all the science you've got backing you up, it's just a matter of building some kind of spaceship and shooting yourself up there to get the energy, right?"

"It isn't that simple. The time it would take to reach even the nearest star and return is far longer than the lifespan of any youkai, and magical means of transportation wouldn't work since there's no oxygen in space, and I need to breathe somehow. And besides, that isn't my dream." Nitori's eyes drifted away from the stars, down toward a particularly elderly tengu heading down the street. "My dream is to create artificial life. And not just a clone, either; fully original and independent life that can eat, sleep, breathe, and do everything else any living being can." That was her dream. If she could create artificial life, it would solve so many problems in the world. Wars wouldn't cost thousands and thousands of irreplaceable lives; the factions in question could just create soldiers from scratch. If somebody were doomed to live alone, all they need do is create a person who would accept them as they were, and they'd have somebody there for them for the rest of their lives. That was the kind of stuff Nitori always wanted to fix, so when the very idea struck her, she knew it was her dream. "I think that if I could create artificial life, I'd be able to-"

"If you could? Nuh-uh, no _if you could_ talk. It's _when you do_ create artificial life."

"You really think I could do it?"

"I don't doubt you for a second, Nitori." Momiji's eyes were still fixated on the stars, so that was why she was the first one to see a bright light falling down to Gensokyo. "Hey, check it out! Looks like you're about to find out if stars are really good energy sources or not." Momiji's finger moved to point straight at the rapidly descending white-hot ball of light.

"What?" Impossible…there wasn't any gravity in space, so stars remained stationary at their point of creation. If Momiji was really right, though. If it was really a star, and she could see if it was a viable energy source…it might not have been her lifelong dream, but it was good enough! That was why Nitori leapt up to her feet and started sprinting toward where she guessed it would land, based on trajectory and everything else. Her mind was practically a supercomputer in its own way, so it wasn't very likely that she was wrong about where it would end up.

* * *

**Ten to fifteen minutes later; unknown location within the Forest of Magic…**

"Hold it," Nitori said, stopping Momiji in her path with her arm. "I'll go from here personally. Just in case there's some kind of danger, you know?" The two were right near a clearing. That had to be where the crash was.

"But I'm a tengu guard! If anybody should be checking for danger, it's me!"

"But you don't have your weapon~" Nitori fished into one of the many small pockets of her light blue dress, and pulled out a tiny little thing. Whatever it was, there was a red light flashing on one point of it. "A good scientist is a prepared scientist. This little ball releases a powerful explosion, so if I say run, we'd better both run like the wind itself, got it?" Not waiting for Momiji's answer, Nitori continued further, into the clearing, only to find that…the clearing was empty. "Wait…what?" That couldn't have been right. Unless…

Unless Nitori's telescope wasn't as good as she gave it credit for; unless something _living_ was here. Something alien…

Nitori barely had time to turn around when she saw it. All she could see was a tiny flash, but next thing she knew, something forced its way into her mouth and started rocketing through her throat, and before long she couldn't tell where it was any longer. Should she be scared or should she swell up with pride? Or was it all just made up to begin with? Hallucinations created by anticipation, anxiety, and the long-lasting desire to actually discover life on other planets. …yes. That had to be it. She was just making it up was all. "Nothing's here," Nitori called to her tengu friend. "I'm heading home for the night; I'm kinda tired from all this searching."

"Sure thing," Momiji said, stepping into the clearing. "Night, Nitori." She let the kappa take off first. The place certainly seemed tranquil enough…

* * *

**The following afternoon; Momiji's guard post…**

"Momiji!" Nitori sprinted straight up to the white wolf tengu with a massive board in her arm. Her hair was a bit messier than usual and she didn't look like she got any sleep last night, but from the excited look on her face, something great had happened after she got home. "Momiji, you won't believe this! This has to be the happiest moment of my life!"

"Come on, what is it," Momiji asked, getting excited just from hearing how hyped up Nitori was about all this. "Did you finally make artificial life?"

"No, not quite yet…but I'm set on the right road to get it done someday!" Nitori showed off the contents of the board; a number of massive equations with at least a hundred variables, exponents, and some things that Momiji didn't even know existed in math. "I have it! Look, this is the formula; the one I've been trying to figure out for my entire life! It's only a start, but I just sat down at home last night and decided to take you up on your advice, and just a few minutes ago I figured it out!"

"That's great! You look kind of tired, though…"

"Didn't sleep, doesn't matter! Do you have any idea what this means? Artificial life, Momiji! Artificial. Freaking. _Life!_" Excited. That was a huge understatement to how Nitori was feeling right now. If one were to combine pure ecstasy and 100% excitement, put them in a blender, and turn the results up to eleven, that would be a little more accurate. "By Suwako, what am I doing here just standing around and talking about it? I've gotta go home! I need to figure out the rest of the formulae I need to get this done! I can see it now; Nitori Kawashiro," she continued as she sped off, speaking at a hundred words a minute. "Gensokyo's prime scientist; inventor of artificial life and solver of all the world's problems! Oh, I can't wait to finish this. Let me see, if I don't take any breaks, I bet I could finish figuring this out in about…"

"…" Something about that excited monologue wasn't quite right. Momiji was really happy that Nitori was on the road to making her lifelong dream a reality, but something she said didn't go quite right. What on earth was it? One thing, so unexplainably tiny that only her closest friends would even think there was anything wrong. What the hell was it? The question was driving Momiji mad, so she sat down and had a mental look at everything Nitori said.

_"No, not quite yet…but I'm set on the right road to get it done someday!"_

No. Later than that.

_"I've gotta go home! I need to figure out the rest of the formulae I need to get this done!"_

Now it was too late in her ecstatic chatter. Best to look at the whole thing…

_"Didn't sleep, doesn't matter! Do you have any idea what this means? Artificial life, Momiji! Artificial. Freaking. Life! By Suwako, what am I doing here just standing around and talking about it? I've gotta go home! I need to figure out the rest of the formulae I need to get this done! I can see it now; Nitori Kawashiro, Gensokyo's prime scientist; inventor of artificial life and solver of all the world's problems! Oh, I can't wait to finish this. Let me see, if I don't take any breaks, I bet I could finish figuring this out in about…"_

Narrow it down; shave off the ends and the answer would probably show itself.

"_Artificial. Freaking. Life! By Suwako, what am I doing here just standing around and talking about it? I've gotta go home!"_

"In there," Momiji said quietly to herself. In that little strand of Nitori's chatter, something was wrong. But Momiji could take forever to figure this out; word puzzles weren't exactly her strong suit, and her train of thought started changing when she tried to figure them out. She'd need some kind of miracle to figure this out…and already her mind was drifting off to other subjects! Miracles reminded her of the shrine maiden living up higher on the mountain. Sanae Kochiya, descendant of…wait…there it was! Nitori had said "_By Suwako_" when she came up to Nitori; something she _never_ said. For her, it was always Kanako that was the goddess worth putting faith in. Now that Momiji was thinking back, there wasn't a single instance where Nitori said "By Suwako" in place of "By Kanako" for as long as Momiji could remember, and she'd known Nitori for most of that. So if Nitori, who not only didn't worship Suwako, but feared her, exclaimed those two undetectable words…

* * *

**Nitori Kawashiro's house…**

"Let's see here," Nitori said with a mind racing at a mile per second. "If those two are equal, but…wait…no, they aren't equal at all!" Not in the least, as far as Nitori could tell now that she was reviewing this formula of hers. Most people would probably just settle if those two values were one or two numbers off from each other, but not Nitori; she knew what the slightest miscalculation could do, especially in something this delicate. "N-No," she yelled furiously. "I have to figure it out!" Quickly regaining her composure, the kappa continued "I'll just…start it over again. Yes. I'm sure that if I try this enough times, the answer will come up eventually." Best to keep her original work, however wrong it may have been. That way she had reference to see where she went wrong, so that she could improve on that error. It was her only whiteboard, though, so Nitori grabbed the nearest paper and pencil, sat down, and started calculating…

* * *

**You know, somehow Suwako gets tied into a lot of my fanfics in one way or another. As for Nitori freaking out and starting over at the end there, it sounds like something I'd do if I realized I had a formula wrong :|**

**I go nuts on my spelling errors; I once cancelled a fanfic because I'd spelt Shanghai wrong for the entire first chapter (spelt it Sanghai) so isn't that saying enough? This fanfic also serves as something that stars Momiji, which I've wanted for a very long time.**


	2. Chapter 2: Depths of Insanity

**In truth, this was written on the same night as the first chapter, but I refuse to upload more than one chapter per fanfic per day starting now, or else I'll simply be updating far more than I should. I decided that while I was writing this chapter, and that's why I know that you'll be treated to another chapter of Welcome to the Youkai Temple tomorrow if you read that fanfic. If I upload them as soon as I write them, it will be too fast and people will lose interest in reading my fanfics. A solid one chapter per fanfic per day is a good way to ensure that I'm not going too fast, or too slow. I've gotta say, this chapter is the reason I label this as a horror fic. Actually…it seems to have the same demented darkness as Unexpected Expectation, but this time it's…well, more obvious thanks to the light-hearted Momiji contrasting our crazy Nitori.**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

_Knock, knock, knock._

"Busy," Nitori shouted. "Come back another time."

"You said that an hour ago," Momiji shouted from across the steel door of Nitori's home and laboratory. "Do you have any idea how long you've been holed up in here?"

"Not long enough! I'm not quite there yet, Momiji…I just need more time!"

Slamming the door open and stepping into the suspiciously dimmed home of Nitori Kawashiro, Momiji angrily said "You've been holed up in here for _five days straight_! The other kappa actually came and got me because they were worried that you were dead!" Continuing on about how worried everybody was about Nitori as she moved nearer and nearer to the kappa with each step, Momiji went on "Aya actually published a special edition that declared you as a missing person, Nitori! All of Gensokyo thinks you've been kidnapped or worse!"

"If they don't think I'm here, they won't come look for me. No reason to have them over just yet; my formula isn't even near perfected yet." Nitori's left eyebrow was twitching wildly, but not from Momiji. Because she'd been sitting in here for five days straight with absolutely zero time for breaks, and she still couldn't perfect that damned formula of hers. "It's all wrong, Momiji, look." Nitori rolled out another whiteboard; much larger than the one she'd been carrying a few days ago. Indeed, this looked like something she probably needed a scissor lift to reach the top of. "Don't you see the problem here, Momiji?"

"U-Uh, I…"

"No, no, of course you don't. Silly me, you aren't even a scientist so this is probably hurting your brain. The formula is still incorrect, Momiji, and I am the only person who can figure it out." This was her dream, and she would die before she saw it unfulfilled. "Now go away. For every second that I'm talking to you," she said, reading over the massive board for what must have been the hundredth time, "I'm not figuring out the problem with this formula."

"Well turn on a light, at least," Momiji said, flipping the light switch. Then, even as a sturdy and fearless patrol guard, even Momiji froze dead in her tracks. Nitori looked absolutely horrible. Her hair was a tangled mess that no longer had the pigtails Momiji would always call so adorable. There were bags under her eyes that reached all the way to her mouth, and Nitori seemed quite a bit paler and thinner since last she was seen. "Oh my god…you need to get some sleep."

"No, no time for sleep. If I'm sleeping, then-"

"_Now_. Or so help me I'll bring Kanako herself down here and knock you into next week, Nitori." It hurt her inside to threaten her friend like that, but this went beyond any matter of friendship. Nitori was probably endangering herself with how much devotion she was putting behind her research.

"Is that any way to speak to your friends? I'll come get you when my formula is complete, but until then, run along. If it truly makes you feel better, I'll put a tiny heart monitor on my wrist and give you its portable screen."

"I suppose…"

"Done," Nitori said, holding out said screen. It was monitoring her heartbeat, and everything seemed perfectly fine. "Now you'll know if I'm in any danger, but I insist that you leave, _now_! And turn the light off on your way out; it's very bright and is burning my eyes."

"…" Was this what despair felt like? Momiji reluctantly shut off the lights, and stepped back outside into the sunny summer day of Gensokyo. Behind that steel door, however, was a place that no longer associated itself with Gensokyo. Nitori was going over the top with how devoted she was to her research, and if she didn't start taking care of herself, Momiji feared that Nitori would end up severely hurting herself. The part that tore her heart asunder, though, was that all she could do-

"Ayayayaya!"

"Not right now, Aya…"

"You're still on duty, Momiji! Boss Tenma was _really_ mad when word got around that Momiji the Super-Faithful Guard wasn't at her post, so I was sent out to find you. Didn't think you'd be here of all places, though."

"About the guard post…I have to put in a temporary resignation."

"_What_? You, resigning?"

"I'm afraid so. And your next headline can be that we found Nitori; she's holed up in her house and nobody can get her to come out or even stop to chat for a minute, including me. I need to go see the miko…"

* * *

**One hike later; Moriya Shrine…**

"So that's where she ran off to," Sanae said musingly inside the Moriya Shrine. Kanako and Suwako were both asked politely to find something else to do, and that this was a fully private conversation between Momiji and Sanae. Set out in front of the two were cups of hot tea, made by the miko herself. "You told me you needed some kind of counseling. I'm not really licensed for this kind of thing, but you look like an internal train wreck so my ears are wide open. Drink your tea, and start at the very beginning."

"Alright," Momiji said, taking her first sip of tea. "Five days ago, Nitori came to me with a whiteboard that had some kind of formula on it that she dreamt of perfecting; I'd told her the night before that she should pursue her dreams no matter how stupid people think her dream is."

"That's a good philosophy. So she showed you the formula, and then what?"

"Well, she was so happy. I don't think I'd ever seen her so happy; I don't think I've seen _anybody_ as happy as she was when she had that board, actually. She just went on a mile a minute, about making artificial life and how by Suwako she had to get back to work. That was when I first figured something might've been wrong with her; Nitori's faith for this shrine is entirely placed in Kanako; she's actually pretty scared of Suwako to tell you the truth, but I don't know why. Maybe it's because-"

"No anecdotes. Just stick to the story at hand, Momiji. She said that she had to get back to work, ran off, and then what?"

"And then she just disappeared. The first time I saw her since then was just a earlier, and she disappeared five days ago, Sanae. I'm not the kind to feel this way, but I'm really scared. I don't know if she'll be okay, and I know that if she hurts herself…she won't want me to come by and protect her…" It was then that Momiji found herself in tears. She'd gone from not crying to hardly being able to breathe just by thinking about how badly Nitori could end up hurting herself. "She has no idea what kind of danger she's putting herself in," the white wolf tengu sobbed. "I just want to protect her is all!"

"…" Sanae wrapped her arms softly around Momiji. The tengu needed a hug right now, so Sanae would be the one to deliver it. "There, there. How about tomorrow, you, me, and Kanako all go out to try and snap her out of whatever kind of madness has a grip on her, alright?"

"I'd like that," Momiji whimpered into Sanae's shoulder. "I'd like it a lot."

"That's what we'll do. You don't have to be afraid, Momiji. Miracles happen every day, but sometimes somebody needs to give a little push to make one that really counts. We're going to make that little push tomorrow, together."

* * *

**The following day; Nitori Kawashiro's house…**

_Knock, knock, knock._

"Go away," Nitori shouted madly from inside her house. "No visitors!"

"Was she like this yesterday," Sanae asked.

"She's gotten worse," Momiji said in honest reply. "Sanae, I'm really, _really_ scared for her."

"Right…" _BANG, BANG, BANG!_

"Get lost," the kappa hissed from inside. "I told you to go away! I'm almost there; just a few steps away, but every time you knock on my door and with every second I'm not focused on the task at hand, I have to go back two steps!"

_BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!_

"Get outta here before I have your sorry ass incinerated! I'm about to solve the formula for creating artificial and fully functional life; a flamethrower is child's play to me!"

"Looks like we'll have to help ourselves in," Sanae said quietly to herself. Turn the doorknob, push the door open, and- _CLANG!_ "It's locked!"

"Nitori," Momiji shouted desperately from outside the door. "Please, let us in! You're seriously putting yourself in danger! This isn't you, Nitori! It isn't you at all, and you're scaring me!" The tengu waited hopefully for an answer. She got silence.

"Looks like I have to deal with it in person," Nitori muttered angrily, getting up and turning to face her locked and chained door. "I thought I already told them I wasn't taking any visitors until I perfected the formula…" A tiny compartment of Nitori's door slid open, and one of the kappa's eyes was all anybody could see. The bags from yesterday now surrounded her entire eye, and she seemed to be getting paler by the day. "For the last time," she said angrily, looking straight at Momiji. "I'm not having any visitors. Until I perfect the formula, I will not be having _any_ visitors. Now unless you actually wish for me to miscalculate the formula which could either increase the length of my time in here, or even worse, lead to a failed experiment on something this easily hazardous, leave! Now!"

"Nitori…"

"Now," the kappa angrily barked. "Beat it!" _SHICK!_ The little portion of the door that was open was slammed shut aggressively. Nitori made it perfectly clear that she wasn't seeing anybody.

"…Nitori…"

"Kanako," Sanae said. "Bust it down."

"I don't approve of these kinds of things," the sky goddess said, "I guess there isn't any way around it, though." _CRASH!_ Nitori's steel door was knocked right off its hinges and a fair distance into the house itself. Kanako first, the trio entered the house and turned on the lights. "Oh…my…god…" Numbers. Everywhere. On whiteboards. On papers. There was a point where the whiteboards and papers came to an end, but from there the numbers continued even further on the walls in marker. Then the disturbing part. After running about halfway down one of Nitori's walls, the black marker ran out and was replaced with red ink. And Nitori was getting paler by the day…

"What in Kanako's name is this," Momiji asked herself. Her sword and shield were on her person today; there was no telling how Nitori might have reacted to them breaking her door down. Momiji started at the beginning of the numbers, following until she reached the red ink. It didn't smell like ink; her wolf senses picked up on it. She couldn't have possibly…

"It's blood," Sanae shouted in horror, pointing right at Nitori. There was a deep cut along her left arm; one her right index finger kept dipping itself in and continuing writing down the incessant numbers along the wall. "Nitori's writing with blood!" As an enthusiast of movies from her home world, she'd always wondered if she would ever come across a scene such as this; like something from straight out of a horror film. Now that she was there in person, seeing such a scene, she understood why they were called horror movies.

"!" The kappa turned around in alarm the second Sanae's voice sounded off. "I thought I warned you to go away," the kappa said coldly. "I've been hanging on to my optical camo just in case somebody was actually stupid enough to break in. Now that you're in here, seeing this top-secret work; work that could more than easily determine peace and war; love and hate; and even life and death…I can't let you leave this place alive." _Click._ Nitori's optical camo kicked into gear, and the kappa was gone from everybody's sight.

* * *

**I know it's cliché, but Nitori didn't wanna go to the store to buy more markers or anything else, so she started using an ink supply that would last her for the rest of her life; her blood. Is it just me, or does Nitori have more darkness as one character here than all of Unexpected Expectation combined? Between writing that, killing Flandre twice in Poisonous Chinese Tea, having Meiling murder Sakuya in the same fanfic, and now this…I think I may have some kind of issues I'm not aware of D:**

**But everybody has issues :D and it's those issues that make me a better writer somehow, so I think it's okay for the time being~**


	3. Chapter 3: Biding One's Time

**This doesn't have anything to do with anything, but did you know that I am a musician as well as a writer? Look me up on YouTube; I'm sure it won't disappoint ;)**

**Advertising aside, writing a fanfic about such an intelligent maniac uses up a lot of brainpower, so I can't write it as fast as I can with sillier and dumber (in the kindest way possible) fanfics. Not that that's why I stick to silly and/or light fanfics or anything! I think this is one of my finest works; right up there with Unexpected Expectation. I'm excellent with dark fanfics, but I prefer to write light ones, which is what I call the twilight paradox.**

**Mention vampires because of the above and Remilia shall come to your house, and it won't bloody be for tea and cakes.**

**Get it? Bloody? MWAHAHAHAHAHA!**

* * *

"Where is she," Sanae asked, frozen in fear. Nitori was slicing her arm open just to finish a formula, so there was no way to imagine how she'd take to people breaking into her house and interrupting her calculations. "Hey, I think we should get out of here." Sanae began backing away toward the door. She didn't want to be here any longer, and she didn't want to come back any time soon.

"N-Nitori," Momiji warned, sounding more threatened than threatening. "D-Don't…I have to advise you to not do anything violent. W-We'll just…-gulp- be on our way, and-"

"No," Nitori shouted from a corner of the room. Then a few seconds of silence. And then from a different corner, she shouted "I can't let you leave here alive; you've seen the secret work!" More silence. This pattern continued as Nitori continued her maddened ranting. "You're now capable of single-handedly stealing my life's sole greatest accomplishment from right under my nose! Artificial life will be _my_ invention, and I'd sooner see this world destroyed than have my work stolen!"

"You're being ridiculous," Kanako said, not seeming frightened in the least. "None of us can even understand this stuff." Pointing to a specific spot of the wall, she said "You're going mad; there's a peanut in your math."

"It's an infinity symbol," Nitori screamed, sounding much angrier than just seconds ago. "Leave! Leave now or by Suwako I'll kill you all where you stand, including you Kanako! Ha, _especially_ you, Kanako~"

"Then we'll leave," the sky goddess said, sounding rather angered herself as she gestured Sanae and Momiji toward the doorway. "When you rot in here, don't come crying to us."

* * *

**Later; Moriya Shrine…**

"And she threatened to kill all three of you?" Sanae and Momiji were out trying to find out if there were any youkai in Gensokyo capable of causing dementia; not just illusions like Reisen did, and certainly not the kind of mind control Satori had.

"Especially me," Kanako said, not looking pleased in the least as she stared Suwako down. "And that little kappa, whose faith was always put in me, mentioned _your_ name."

"W-Wait…you don't seriously think _I_ did that to her, do you?"

"I think you very well know exactly what I'm thinking, Suwako."

"Whoa, slow down there! I wouldn't dare do that kind of thing; I gave up the whole evil goddess thing after the war! R-Remember? I swore that I wouldn't do that kind of thing anymore…although…"

"Although?" Kanako lifted the frog goddess up by her collar, and said "You'd better start croaking, froggy."

"Hey! Put me down!"

"Not until you tell me what you meant by _although_."

"Alright, alright! Mishaguji's gone missing and I can't find him anywhere! He never promised to give up on evil god stuff like me, and he's kind of a scourge god and all…he might be influencing Nitori somehow. That would probably also be why Nitori's saying 'by Suwako' instead of 'by Kanako' since Mishaguji answers to me. Now, just chill out and put me down, alright?"

"…" Kanako set her fellow goddess down on her feet, and sat down. "Great. We've got a scourge god running around and we have no idea if he's physically inside Nitori's body or if he's doing this through more indirect measures. And even then, that's all assuming Mishaguji really _is_ the one behind this."

"Who else would it be," Suwako asked, having a seat herself.

* * *

**Eientei…**

"Causes of dementia," Eirin asked. "Why would you need to know such a thing? You Youkai Mountain types aren't very trusting of outsiders, and the same can be said here in Eientei as well."

"I appreciate you trying to keep yourself isolated," Sanae said, "I really do. But lives are in serious danger here, doctor!"

"When you put it that way, it would be most unwise to retain information. I don't want to look like a murderer, after all. Sadly, it can be caused by a very wide range of things. Birth, old age, head injuries…for something so serious, there is quite a list of causes. If you could bring the afflicted here, perhaps, I may be able to discover the cause and a cure for the madness can then be sought out."

"I'll be sure to figure out how to get her here," Sanae said, standing up and making her way out of Eirin's office. Kanako had the plan sorted out not long after the trio left Nitori's house; Sanae was to come down to Eientei and see if Eirin would be able to help any, which is seemed she could if they could get Nitori to Eientei. Kanako would be questioning Suwako right now since Nitori didn't put any faith in Suwako and was now using her name, and Sanae could only wonder how that was working out. That left Momiji, who was told to go get some rest; Kanako knew she needed it after seeing her best friend like that.

* * *

**Nitori's house…**

"No…it can't be right." Nitori looked madly at her work that had almost taken up all of her wall space. Pretty soon, she'd have to continue on the ceiling if she had to keep going like this. And she did. The equation still wasn't solved, and from the looks of things, it would be a while before it was. Now that she was reviewing her work, it was actually becoming _further_ from equal with every extra number or operand added. That was what couldn't be right. The veins around her right eye were beginning to bulge grotesquely from what her mind identified as stress. She was wrong. She would also mistaken in believing that the high fever she wasn't even aware of was simply a seasonal thing. If Nitori could realize just what kind of condition she was in, she'd probably say she caught a bug.

Well, she certainly caught _something_. And it just so happened to like the size of her brain.

* * *

**Moriya Shrine; the following day…**

"No way!" Sanae bolted out of her door, nearly knocking it down on the way out. "Everybody, you won't believe this," she shouted, nearly tripping in her frenzied rush to meet up with Kanako, Suwako, and Momiji.

"We're all right here," Kanako said, trying to keep herself level between Sanae's sudden outburst, Momiji being a train wreck, and Suwako being…well, Suwako. "What won't we believe, Sanae?"

"Look at this!" Sanae held out a manga from the outside world, soon flipping through the first few pages. "I was just bored," she said rapidly as she flew through the pages, trying to find the chapter she was looking for. "So I decided to read some manga to pass the time, and I found this one under my bed; one of my old favorites that was published and sold independently by this guy people kept calling crazy for whatever reason, and…found it!" Holding out the book once more, this time open to a certain page, Sanae said "Have a look. Tell me that guy's behaviors don't seem a little familiar."

"Let's have a look…" Kanako took the book, and had a good look at what it was Sanae was trying to show them. "Madly driven to accomplish a goal…aggressive to visitors…dear me," Kanako said, turning the page. "The artist even did these pages in color to show the bloody writing on the walls." Processing, and… "Sanae, you don't really think that Nitori's odd behavior and whatever's happening to a person in your manga are related somehow, do you?"

"Well, I mean, it's worth a shot, isn't it? Momiji, what's the last thing you and Nitori did together before she started acting like this?"

"We were stargazing together and we thought a shooting star came down to Gensokyo, so Nitori and I went out to investigate," Momiji said between sips of tea. She was pretty sure one of these two goddesses put something in it to calm her down. She was glad they did. "The next afternoon she came to me with a whiteboard with all kinds of crazy equations that she finally figured out after so many years, and then this. Why?"

"Have a look." Flipping to the earlier pages of the manga, Sanae said "Stargazing." As she continued to flip through the pages, Sanae pointed out the events Momiji described in the very same order. "Increased intelligence and ecstasy, and then…this." Right back to the page Sanae first showed them. "Call me crazy, but I think that the guy who made this manga knew about something the rest of the outside world didn't, and was trying to warn us. Something in the stars. Ladies and gentlemen, despite a horrid situation we've found ourselves in, I'm pleased to say that we're dealing with…an alien."

"It's too uncanny to be a coincidence," the white wolf tengu agreed. "Even if Kanako and Suwako don't believe you, Sanae, I do. Since you've read that manga already, you know how to defeat it and whatnot, right?"

"Right." Pulling from her pockets a sketch of the human body that looked like it was drawn just minutes ago for the sole purpose of hoping to make this little presentation, Sanae said "The alien is a kind of helpful and harmful parasite that increases a person's intelligence and strength, but it munches away at their sanity and once that sole mental barrier is gone, they begin to take over. Getting one out of its host is far from easy, but the only ways to kill it are either separating the alien and Nitori, or by killing our kappa friend."

"We couldn't possibly kill her! Please!"

"That's why we're going to separate the two. The only problem is that once the parasite latches onto its host's brain, it begins to grow from inside the body, kinda like something out of Resident Evil."

"Resident what now?"

"Sorry, forgot where I was for a moment. In a nutshell, it's going to grow from inside her body, and once it gets big enough, even killing Nitori won't destroy the parasite; it'll become fully independent, and using knowledge it sucked out of a genius like Nitori, I'm sure it's going to want to create more aliens with some kind of cloning technology."

"So we need to do this _fast_, right?"

"Very. We've already given the parasite a lot more time than we should have, and Nitori's mind isn't going to settle down until we've either rescued her or that alien eats the whole brain." Not a second later was Momiji out the door, sword and shield in hand. Heading out herself, Sanae couldn't help but talk to herself a bit. "Aliens are generally smarter than us, so why do they always go for the brains? And zombies are dumb but they also go for the brains. I think it would be cool to see zombies that went for the heart instead of the brain, or even a kidney at least, but all that brain-munching gets old to watch after a while…"

* * *

**The manga bit was just something I made up as I went along. The brain parasite bit, on the other hand, was planned out from the start, and as I wrote down Sanae's lecture on what they were up against, I noticed that it sorta was like something out of Resident Evil 4, so there we have it.**

**On that note, I don't actually play Resident Evil, or most shooter games outside of Touhou, but my brother does and I've watched him from time to time. Not interested; zombies are far too mainstream for my tastes. Unless it's Yoshika. When Touhou gets involved, my preferences start changing~**


	4. Chapter 4: Momiji's Decisive Move

**About time, right?**

**Hahaha, sorry for leaving everybody hanging on this. Plenty of interesting developments come out in this chapter, but it's a little shorter than others before it. For people who know about my 4-page rule, this came out to 3 pages instead of the usual 4 (though The Traveling Gourmet consists solely of 2-page chapters)**

**Of course, this fanfic is also going to be shorter than others. I intend to end it pretty soon; this is the crazy kind of thing that while it's got a unique story, I can't flesh it out as much as I would with my other demented works (cough cough Unexpected Expectation)**

**Anyway~**

**Enjoy this chapter, and I hope you eagerly await the next entry in this kappa's descent into madness.**

* * *

**Nitori Kawashiro's House: Basement…**

Renovations had been done down here. The idea hit Nitori yesterday, shortly after getting rid of Momiji and them, that maybe the answer to creating life was somewhere in the grand field of _modifying _life. Thus, the chains and handcuffs that dangled from her basement's ceiling. It simply wouldn't do if her new test subjects (who had been put here very much against their will) tried to run away. At the moment, there were three, and they were powerful people in Gensokyo before Nitori's experiments; afterwards, they could put their former selves to shame.

"Now I expect you to be good," Nitori said, unchaining the first of the three. "You understand the rules perfectly well, and that breaking them is going to be punished by instant death. Hopefully, you won't give me any trouble…Yuka."

* * *

**The following day; Bunbunmaru Newspaper: Headline Article…**

_Missing People Reports Spread Across Gensokyo!_

_Yesterday, three people were reported missing. Those were Yuka Kazami, Nue Houjuu, and Utsuho Reiuji. Today, that number has grown to eight. The list of missing is as follows. Yuka Kazami, Nue Houjuu, Utsuho Reiuji, Rumia, Yamame Kurodani, Wriggle Nightbug, Mystia Lorelei, and Nitori Kawashiro. This last one is a point of concern; Nitori was the one who personally reported herself as missing. Obviously, she's not really missing if she came to my office, so take her report however you wish. More on this chain of kidnappings as it develops._

_On another note, there have been…more disturbing reports. Reports of screaming, near Nitori Kawashiro's house. None of them reported Nitori being the one screaming, but whoever is there with her is, according to reports, probably in some kind of pain. It's not my job to accuse criminals, but I'd be willing to bet money on Nitori being the one behind these missing people reports. More on everything related to this as we learn more._

* * *

**Nitori Kawashiro's House; Basement…**

"Why did you call me here?"

"Oh, nothing of any significance," Nitori said, looking proudly at the "enhanced" youkai that were so obedient to this demented genius. They were 100% obedient to her, and were much more powerful than they were before Nitori started experimenting. And given that her targets were all powerful (even if others couldn't tell) _before_ kidnapping them…it was bad. "Tell me, as a magician, how much do you know about the black arts?"

"…I beg your pardon?" This wasn't a topic Alice was quite ready to discuss. Her mother was Shinki; goddess of Makai, but that didn't mean Alice herself knew anything about the black arts. She didn't want to! That was the kind of magic that defiled the laws of nature and delved the user into a darkness from which there was no return. This topic was one that Alice wasn't up for discussing. "I'm not going to answer that."

"What if I gave you a price for your participation?"

"What kind of-" _SNAP!_ "Aah!" The monstrous youkai standing on Alice's right - the one that she was pretty sure was once Yuka Kazami - snapped her arm in half, literally tearing the other half off. And now there was blood all over her nice blue dress, too…shame.

"Half an arm for everything you know."

"Y-You think…I'd tell you that kind of stuff over that?"

"No bargain? Maybe…a full arm?" _SNAP!_

"Make it stop," Alice shrieked in pain.

"If you give me knowledge, I'll give you an arm. And I'll negotiate the price to as high as I must to learn whatever you know."

"Why? Wh…what would you, a scientist, gain from black magic?"

"Nothing at all. I just want to know how much you know."

"…"

* * *

**Dollmakers are explaining…**

* * *

"Interesting…you've got a pretty comprehensive knowledge in the field, it seems."

"It's to be expected from a Makai citizen," Alice said, looking uneasily at her new appendage. Nitori had started working on a new arm for Alice while the dollmaker shared all her knowledge on black magic. Even if she didn't want to know anything about it, she was the daughter of Shinki herself, so there was plenty she knew. This new arm…it made her uneasy, but it was rather fitting. Just like a doll's arm…

"Though, I need to ask," Nitori said, jotting down some numbers and equations on a large notepad. "Why does somebody so knowledgeable in black magic not use it? With that kind of power, you could literally do just about anything you wanted. You could change nature itself to your whim, you could even create _life_…" Brainwave. "Oh…I'd like your assistance in something, Alice."

"What is it?"

"Not anything of much significance," Nitori lied, pressing a small switch and taking in a deep breath. "I'll explain it all in the morning. For now, it's late and you should get some rest."

"It isn't that late," Alice said, getting pretty nervous. "It's only…" _THUD!_ Alice was out like a light bulb.

"Simple enough." Pressing the button again, Nitori let out the deep breath. Setting up knockout gas in the basement was a simple thing, and knocking people out with it was even easier. "Now then, dollmaker…I need some _very_ special dolls made. I'm sure you'll agree," the kappa assured herself as one of her mutated servants (judging by appearance, Utsuho Reiuji) lifted her off the ground and brought her toward a steel table with cuffs for all four limbs and the head, as well as others to secure the entire body. Nitori was a genius and was capable of mutating others with her science, but that didn't mean the process was painless. Indeed, it was extremely painful, and she was too busy with figuring out the life-creation problem to worry about making something to cancel out the pain.

* * *

**Moriya Shrine…**

"I wonder what she's doing right now…" Momiji had been living here in the Moriya Shrine since the whole Nitori incident started. It was a pretty comforting place, and that was what she really needed to avoid having a meltdown. Indeed, everybody's company around here was the only thing keeping her from losing it completely…

But nobody was letting her read the Bunbunmaru. At this moment, however, they were all out. Kanako and Suwako were both in the tengu city doing goddess things, and Sanae was out at the Human Village to do some shopping. And the newest issue of Gensokyo's foremost newspaper was just sitting there, right in front of her. "Just a peek won't hurt…"

* * *

_Missing People Reports Spread Across Gensokyo!_

_Yesterday, three people were reported missing. Those were Yuka Kazami, Nue Houjuu, and Utsuho Reiuji. Today, that number has grown to eight. The list of missing is as follows. Yuka Kazami, Nue Houjuu, Utsuho Reiuji, Rumia, Yamame Kurodani, Wriggle Nightbug, Mystia Lorelei, and Nitori Kawashiro. This last one is a point of concern; Nitori was the one who personally reported herself as missing. Obviously, she's not really missing if she came to my office, so take her report however you wish. More on this chain of kidnappings as it develops._

_On another note, there have been…more disturbing reports. Reports of screaming, near Nitori Kawashiro's house. None of them reported Nitori being the one screaming, but whoever is there with her is, according to reports, probably in some kind of pain. It's not my job to accuse criminals, but I'd be willing to bet money on Nitori being the one behind these missing people reports. More on everything related to this as we learn more._

* * *

Momiji's entire body started shaking. Was this why nobody here was letting her read the news? Because Nitori was getting progressively worse? Last time they tried to at least settle her down, she was just madly writing numbers on her walls and ceiling. But this was something else entirely. Now she was kidnapping innocent people, and hurting them. What was she trying to accomplish now? This wasn't how one created life; it was how you ruined lives and made people hate you. Momiji didn't want her best friend to be a hated person…

Getting up to her feet, Momiji gathered up every ounce of courage she had. Her things from her guard duties were still sitting next to the door. A black shield with a red maple leaf painted on it, and a large steel sword. She remembered that Nitori made it special for her. The other tengu weren't as strong as she was, and their swords were hollow, but Momiji's was solid steel all the way through. Picking up that sword and the shield that accompanied it, the white wolf tengu opened up the door of the Moriya Shrine. Sitting here was obviously doing nothing at all, so she had to do something. She didn't care how it ended, but she knew the outcome.

By the end of the day, either Nitori Kawashiro, or Momiji Inubashiri, would be dead.

* * *

**On the note of somebody dying, and Azure Xuchilbara knows this, I generally avoid the Gensokyo rule of "dead people will be back later" so that if I intend to keep a character out of the story, I know that they won't ever be seen in Gensokyo again after they're killed. It also gives death a bigger impact if you know they aren't coming back.**

**Although, this doesn't apply in my comedic works, since they're light and fluffy without too much darkness. Nicolas Crossworth said that my best work is seen in comedy, and I'm not going to disagree with him, though I need to write something dark now and again to avoid bad things happening to my comedic works, unless the dark parts are needed to do what I need done.**

**Back to THIS fanfic, who do you think will die? I for one don't know; I'm not there yet, but I hope it isn't Momiji! She's my favorite midboss in all of Touhou, and this from a person who doesn't even like dogs!**


End file.
